Bottom Paint Experience/Recommendation

[clayton]

It's that time of year again... I am on the lower Hudson River, NY, Tappan Zee area, and used to use Interlux Micron Extra ablative. Switched several years ago to West Marine CPP ablative on the rudder and achieved similar results, West Marine Bottomkote hard on the hull and got decent results. This past year we had a lot more barnacle growth in the area as a whole than years previous, myself included. Looking for feedback on West Marine PCA Gold ablative, West Marine CPP ablative and Pettit Odyssey ablative, (all on sale this week at West Marine). Your feedback very much appreciated as to effectiveness against barnacle/hard growth, slime accumulation in brackish tidal river conditions. My experience with the West CPP was with paint several years old, I'm seeing comments online that Irgarol is no longer a component in West PCA Gold, never used the Pettit Odyssey. I've read that Interlux Micron 66 is the bomb but the price point is out of range. Thanks so much.
Clayton

 

[bgary]

Probably too late to help, but for what it's worth....

My bottom was done a few years back with West Marine PCA Gold (which is, under the covers, Pettit Ultima SR-40). It's a *very* soft ablative, which is good to a point.... but I found it sloughs off in areas of water flow (the bow, the leading edge of keel and rudder) leading those areas to collect growth, and it didn't do a great job at warding off slime on its best day. I'm also in brackish waters (salt-water marina at the mouth of a fresh-water river).

Just had the bottom re-done and wanted a slightly harder paint. At the boat-yard's recommendation, I went with SeaHawk "SharkSkin". Price was reasonable, should be better against wear, and the cuprous content makes me think it'll be more effective than the West Marine paint. We'll see.

One thing to keep in mind, any time you change bottom paints, is compatibility with what's already on there. One paint might not adequately stick to a prior paint of a different type. Most of the paint manufacturers have a compatibility chart somewhere on their product page.

Bruce

 

[Prairie Schooner]

We were just shopping at West Marine for bottom paint and had a helpful conversation with one of the managers. After our bottom strip and repaint* we put on two coats of Micron CSC. That is on sale at WM for about $270. WM CPP is around $100, also on sale. We were very pleased with the performance of the Interlux product, but $170/gal will buy some nice lobster dinners on Block Island.

We went in thinking they were comparable. Jacoby told us the CPP has a lower copper content and is basically a one year paint while CSC is multi-year. Also, we thought we could put the CPP over the CSC. The can label of the WM product states that any existing paint should be removed before putting it on. However, J thought we could get by with painting the WM over the Interlux product since they were both petroleum based.

Because I learned to sail with racers and that's mostly who I hang out with, I just assumed it was normal to sand and paint each year. Reading here and talking with Jacoby, I realize it's common to get two or even three seasons out of the premium paints. So I guess technically we could go another year without reapplication, maybe just touching up some areas. We likely are going to repaint it again this year for two reasons. 1) I want to switch back to blue from the current black. That will make it easier to see for bottom cleaning. 2) We were in such a time-crunch last year that I didn't sand between applying the three barrier coats or two anti-foul coats. There's an accumulation of roller texture that is rather pronounced and I want to smooth it out. So, it looks like Micron again this year but next year we will try to skip. - We pull the boat for the winter here.

Confirming, the West Marine product is made by Petit. We got a SDS sheet for the CPP and the name at the top is Petit.

Another post with discussion of WM CPP:
- https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/how-many-gallons-of-bottom-paint-for-an-e38.21619/

* Our bottom redux:
- https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/hull-blisters-treatment-of-master-thread.20169/post-172638